Simple Activities to Make Home Schooling More Fun!

Home Schooling has definitely been a big change for a lot of us. Some of us are enjoying it (ME!) some of us are probably hating it. Same with our children, some like Lily are enjoying it, and some are probably struggling with it.

I think the key to getting your child to want to do school work is by breaking it up with some fun but still educational activities. That is exactly what I have been doing with Lily. There have been some fantastic websites with some great printables and also online learning, but a child really doesn't want to have to sit at a table and do pen to paper work all day or computer work. So here are some of the activities we have been doing. 

All activities can be made for your child's age to make it easier or harder. 

Fun Fair Maths and Phonics

One thing that we will have all missed out on this year is all the wonderful spring fairs that are usually on. So why not try make your own fun fair, but put a learning twist to it. Out of all the activities I list to you today, this may be the most costly, but I am also on a budget and so I made sure it didn't break the bank. So here are a few fun ideas that you can do. Remember you can always change the difficulty of the questions for the age of your child.

Hook a duck and Fishing - Kids love playing hook a duck at a fair. So all you need is a paddling pool, bucket of water, or even the bath tub to make this game. You can buy hook a duck and fishing sets from places like pound stretcher, so they don't cost much to get. For this activity you can do maths or Literacy. For maths its a simple hook a duck and read the maths question, all you need to do is stick the question to the bottom, but make sure that there is plenty of tape over the paper otherwise it will leak onto your paper. Then you need to write the answers of the questions onto other pieces of paper and your child has to find the answer and place their duck on top. 
Our set came with fish as well as ducks and so we did literacy on these. Focusing on Phonics. On each fish I taped a middle sounding phonic, for example "oo, ee," then on pieces of paper I wrote words with the middle sounding sounds missing. Lily then had to work out which words the sounds could fit into. For example, Green.  

Water Gun Fun - It has been lovely weather to learn outdoors lately, though if you can't do this outdoors then this can also be done in the bathroom. All you need is paper and water guns, which can also be bough from pound stores. We did this game as a phonics game, but you could do it as any question and answer game really. For our phonics game I laminated lots of words, but these words all had the starting sound missing. I then wrote out lots starting sounds Eg "Th, Ch, Qu" I did a few of each sound. The way to play if that they have to figure out which sound is missing from the start of the word and then squirt that sound with the water gun. Lily loved getting to soak the letter through. 

Mini Golf Maths - You can pick up cheap Mini golf sets online or from Poundstrecher. The game is pretty simple but fun, get your child to hit the ball into one of the holes, on the back of the flag is a maths question. They have to answer that question to be able to move onto the next hole. 

There are plenty other fair themes you could probably think of, like popping balloons with maths questions inside, egg and spoon races with letters on to make up words, or a throwing game where you have to knock over something with a question on. All great for encouraging children to want to learn. 

Maths and Letter Hunt - We played this game twice, once with maths and once with letters. You simply need a pen and paper for this game and its one of Lily's favourites. This game can be played around the house or around the garden/back yard. For the letter game you need to write out each letter of the alphabet, get these hidden around the house or garden and get your child to hunt for them, for each letter they find, they need to think of a word that starts with it. You could make it extra tricky by using more complicated phonic sounds if you need to. For maths its the same game but this time you write some sums on the pieces of paper. We did about 10 sums of adding and subtraction. 

Around the World Learning - Here is a good way to get your children learning about the different continents of the world, while keeping it fun rather than a sit down activity. All you need is a map of the world. If you don't have one,you could print one or you could get one up on your tablet or computer or even your phone. Printed is better though. First start by telling your child the names of the different continents. Repetition is the best way to get your child to learn about these sort of things and that's why this is a great game for it. Now you need to raid your cupboards for things made in different countries. So your food and toiletries and especially beauty products as a lot of these are made in different countries I found. You then need to find out where the object is made and get your child to mark it on the map. It is a great way to get your child learning while keeping it not a sat down activity. 

Quiz hunt - This is something I have been doing once a week to help recap and test what Lily has learnt. We all hate tests! Sitting down to a table and answering questions..boring! So here is a quiz on the move. Write out the questions on paper (coloured paper if you have more than one child) then cut them out. I did 10 questions but you could do more. Mark each question 1 -10 on the back. Now time to hide these around the house. Give your child a sheet of paper with 1 to 10 written on it and now they have to hunt for their questions around the house. I usually do questions on the topics she has been learning about, for example farm animals, plants, bugs, space etc. After they have answered all the questions let them mark there own answers like you do in a quiz and don't forget the reward of stickers or sweets at the end as a treat! 

Hopefully some of these ideas will get your child to feel motivated and encouraged to want to get learning. I know they work with Lily and also help her to then sit down and do some of her pen to paper work. 

How have you been finding home schooling? Do you plan to get doing some more fun learning activities. 

And here is a chance to WIN a £10 HobbyCraft Voucher to help towards activity must haves. Enter on the Gleam app below. Prize supplied by me via email and can be used online! 

Win a £10 HobbyCraft Voucher